“Winners change their business mix year after year; while laggards sit still” is a popular adage. So, why must you put your portfolio on the move?

Portfolio management has always been key to business growth across all industry verticals. It is more so now in the pandemic induced new normal, where organizations face daily challenges, be it running operations, cash flow, disrupted supply chain, employee engagement or customer care.
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An analysis of financial results of several hundreds of companies from 2008 to 2018 through a long cycle of downturn, recovery and growth indicate that, those businesses that put its portfolio on the move tend to outperform. The reverse is true as well. Businesses with a static portfolio serially underperform. Why? Because the market moves on and the company doesn’t. 

Let’s take them one by one.

Portfolio Management:
Here are seven main takeaways from my review of the aforementioned finance study-

1. Keep the portfolio moving:
There is an optimal rate to rotate the industry you operate in. Leading companies tend to rotate their portfolios steadily, not widely. Also, do not keep them fixed in a place.

2. Move with the market:
Headwinds and tailwinds matter a lot. Best companies identify where the winds are shifting and deploy resources aggressively where they predict the value creation to be. Work to create value. Anything that is not ‘value’ is ‘waste’; and wastes lead to high operational costs.

3. Manage innovations:
Organizations that wisely invested in innovation be it product or process innovations created profitable portfolios. Like all aspects of business, innovation too must be well-managed for it to be strategic, customer-centric and profitable. Innovation management becomes more critical in todays times where economy is battered, and organizations face heavy budget crunch. (Tip- Remember innovation is not R&D. I have a separate post explaining the difference).

4. Use M&A to speed up your way:
Mergers and acquisitions are generally essential to realize value creation. There are different approaches to M&A and they tend to produce different outcomes. I shall write a separate post on tips and tools for M&A during crisis/ challenging business environment. The central message though is that, high performers conduct programmatic M&A. The next logical question is- How far from your core should you aim M&A? 

5. Focus on acquisitions at the perimeter of your portfolio: 
The acquisition radius study is vital before each M&A deal and this acquisition radius is based on the type of acquisition. Broadly, there are four main categories of acquisitions-   
   

• Adding to portfolio’s primary, including segment.
• Adding to an existing secondary industry segment.
• Buying into a segment adjacent to an existing business.
• Stepping out into an unrelated industry.         

The odds are best when companies use M&A to accelerate a move towards new opportunities in existing but secondary businesses that is outside, but not too far outside of their core sectors.

6. Go harder when you are in a tough spot:
How you stack up against your competitors affects how hard you need to pull-on these levers. Make aggressive portfolio moves when you are fallen behind. When you have a declining business focusing on performance improvement alone and ignoring your portfolio does little for your odds of sharply turning things around.

7. Top performers are relentless capital reallocators:
They assign their current businesses to the categories 'grow’, ‘maintain’, ‘dispose’ and keep clearly differentiated rules for how much capital goes into each.

​How to conduct portfolio management strategically to thrive in the new normal is a vast topic. I shall be writing several blog posts on this in the coming days, so do stay tuned-in. For now, let’s move on to the second winning tool- Continuous Improvement.

Continuous Improvement:
A dynamic portfolio demands strategic Continuous Improvement of products and business process alike. In most organizations, Continuous Improvement on product usually happens as a part of business development group's product life cycle management agenda via market research and financial models, though it is not the ideal way to do it. 

Business processes on the other hand, even in profit making organizations usually are antiquated. And this is the starting point of the corporate's downfall, which generally begins with either customer complaints or high running costs, then unmet quarterly financial goals and if not checked in time, can have a free fall leading to the company's close down. ​

​There are over eighteen scientific and time-tested Business Process Improvement methodologies to choose from depending on the size and nature of your business; though Lean, Kaizen, Kanban, Hoshin and TRIZ give maximum benefits rapidly. Checkout more on Continuous Improvement here.
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Effective Portfolio Management and strategic Continuous Improvement have proved themselves in good times and bad, and they are also harder to apply than they seem on the face of it. But how much derives comes from taking steps to get there…

If you feel like the call to enrich your company's portfolio, manage innovations and implement strategic continuous improvement needs best expertise reach out to us.

According to a Gartner study 2019, traditionally companies have spent as much as $2420 per employee comprising- flexible work policies, workplace redesigns, learning & development opportunities etc. However, only 13% employees in the study reported ‘satisfied’. 

Satisfied and motivated employees bring-on innovation, continuous improvement, increased productivity and in general creates a ‘happy’ space for everyone to work together in the organization.

Employee morale is one of the key ingredients of business success, thus it cannot be overlooked. So, the glaring question here is- How can leaders keep employees happy?

I would say that it is a three-part process, namely:

1. Calibrate expectations.
2. Personalize experience.
3. Shape memories.

Calibrate expectations-
Organizations should be clear about what it can and cannot deliver given their available resources and priorities, which will change as the economy ebbs and flows.

Once this map is ready, HR leaders should involve employees in creating a topography thru a survey about what changes they would like to implement and what makes them excited to come to work.

I would recommend using Personal Kaizen (or Employee Kaizen) tool to create an ‘experience blueprint’. You may combine Kaizen with day- long workshops designed to help employees determine and document their priorities. Use these blueprints for employee engagement.

Next, Managers should engage in one-on-one dialogue with workforce to align each employee’s aspiration with organization’s vision.

On the face of it, this exercise may look lengthy and cumbersome, but it is not. Calibrating employee expectations with organizational expectations is a sure win-win approach to go for.

Personalize day-to-day experience:
Employees might fear repercussion from voicing their requests or objections if any, so leaders need to create a psychologically safe environment for discussions. Encourage transparent, often and intellectual dialogues between leaders and employees. Scrap-off ‘Do as I say’ work code (that is, if it still exists at your workplace) .

Shape memories:
This involves shaping memories both good and bad. HR leaders can ask employees to reflect on how the employee development programs have improved their work lives. Encourage them to post their stories on company blog, newsletter, and share them at team meetings, open-house gatherings, off-site boot camps and other forums.

As companies emerge from the current economic crisis leaders might seek ways to highlight examples of how they supported their employees, such as- by continuing to pay sidelined workers or providing extended sick leave.
Of all the times, today’s business leaders and decision-makers must exhibit high emotional maturity, empathy and tolerance.

Installing a culture of Leadership Kaizen at your workplace creates successful leaders, motivated workforce and a thriving business.

Governments of practically all countries have initiated unlock procedures after a complete lock down for 3-4 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Organizations are slowly getting back to business, but situation is different now. Wearing mask in public spaces and offices, physical distancing is the new normal. And companies must gear up to this challenge while ensuring operational productivity and profitability.

Here are top 3 guidelines which companies can follow to keep their workforce safe despite the uncertainties posed by crisis such as Covid-19:
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1. Protect the workforce.
2. Engage the workforce.
3. Manage risks effectively to ensure uninterrupted workflow.

Protect workforce:
Formalize / revise SOP (standard operating procedure) and tools that keep your workforce safe. This includes man and/or material flow, air flow patterns, building maintenance, housekeeping etc. Conduct regular swab tests and volumetric air sampling to monitor clean air and surface conditions at your facility.

Engage workforce:
Leaders and superiors must exhibit high emotional quotient and tolerance. Let there be a two-way communication with your workforce than just top down. To achieve this, ramping up your company’s communications strategy is a sure winner. Regularly share information about your company’s evolving knowledge of the crisis and how it is using that knowledge to protect its employees and organization.

Clarity, simplicity, transparency, positivity, framework, and frequency of message together play an important role in effective communication.

Manage risks effectively to ensure uninterrupted workflow :
Just as it is important to receive correct information, it is also equally important to stay away from fake news and rumors. This implies consistent content, reflecting a single source of information at the corporate center.

Open offices are shrinking; soon they will be a thing of the past. Remember we went for open offices because it allowed better people contact and created mini bonds between members of the workforce which ultimately boosted productivity.

Now with social distancing, work-pods and remote working in place, we have moved a notch farther away. In such a scenario circulating fake news or rumors can cause a state of chaos and confusion among employees thus resulting in apprehension and conflicts.

3Cs- Clear, Correct and Concise communication plays a vital role in ensuring uninterrupted workflow, high employee morale and productivity.

So how do we head-on to it?

Managers and supervisors must maintain open and two-way dialogue with their workforce. Collect queries and concerns from front-line team members each morning.

The company’s HR/ PR division can publish an updated daily list of Q&A which are displayed on the company’s intranet, staff notice boards or sent out as email or text messages to employee cell phones. This will help drop absenteeism and increase productivity.

As an additional benefit this approach will uncover several previously un-asked questions perhaps unrelated to the pandemic, but these questions may have been brewing in the minds of front-line workforce for a while.

Answering such questions and dealing with whatever needs to be done to sort out any issues will boost productivity and workforce satisfaction.

A parting note- Capitalize on these improvements by standardizing the enhanced communication approach, periodically improve communication SOP in order to prevent letting things regress to pre-crisis norms as the situation stabilizes.

Begin Kaizen-ing your communication SOP. It does not cost much. Just 10-15 minutes daily and you can reap exponential rewards.

Kaizen is a time-tested Japanese technique of continual improvement. Kaizen professes small incremental changes to business processes and brings-in faster returns. 

Want to initiate Kaizen at your workplace?

​Covid-19 pandemic has left business leaders to deal with unprecedented challenges such as- poor cash flow, fluctuating customer demands, social distancing affecting both business operations as well as product sales etc., the list can get exhaustive … And we do not yet have any sight of ‘Corona- The End’. 

So how do business leaders get their organizations back in shape and thriving? My short and crisp answer to this question is- Innovation and Continuous Improvement.

But both need funds. In today’s times most businesses are hand-to-mouth with cash flow. Research budgets of most industry sectors (except pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and software) have taken huge cuts. Fund allocation for Continuous Improvement projects have also taken a back seat.

So how come I’m recommending Continuous Improvement for businesses at such a turbulent time? Because Continuous Improvement initiates changes in the way companies operate, thus leading to increased cash flow. Once cash flow problem is sorted out, everything else can be put in place quickly.

There are over eighteen time-tested scientific Continuous Improvement methodologies to choose from. Select a methodology that will bring-in best returns for your business. For example, IT companies can go in for CMMI, pharmaceutical companies can choose Lean etc. While companies from all industry verticals can opt for Kaizen. Note that, Kaizen methodology is also best suited for start-ups.

But it is important to understand status of your business before beginning with Continuous Improvement initiatives. For example- Is your business going through difficult times because of a pandemic, recession, or natural disasters such as cyclone, earthquake etc.

Secondly find out- Is it just your business going through difficult times while your competitor(s) and other industries by and large are unaffected? Answers to those questions will pave way to solutions to wade through the crisis successfully.

A question I often get is when to start with Continuous Improvement initiative? And I often rephrase the question- It is not Continuous Improvement that’s a technical term. What you are doing is Business Improvement. As improving your business’s operations and performance is the lifeline for its survival, so begin with it ASAP!

Therefore, earlier you begin Continuous Improvement campaigns in your organization, quicker will be the rewards and it will also be smooth sailing … because turning around a sick business is definitely more challenging than transforming an otherwise working business.
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Usually Innovation and Continuous Improvement either singly or in combination bring about business improvement; but its is vital to know when to ‘innovate’ and when to ‘improve’...

#BusinessTransformation  #ContinuousImprovement  #BusinessTurnaround #Lean #Kaizen #CMMI #StartUp

​This ‘new normal’ is Covid19 induced. We are still dealing with Covid-19. It is not over yet. What more is in store for us to deal with Covid-19 menace? How will the virus behave going forward? By when we will have ‘Corona- The End’ no one really knows!

Therefore this ‘new normal’ is a moving target. As organizations, we will have to consistently change as Covid-19 induced situation changes. Although we all hope that worst is over!

Business plans must be redrawn as circumstances change.

The Covid-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of life from personal (how we live and work) to the professional that is- how companies interact with their customers, how customers choose and purchase products and services, how supply chains deliver them etc.

The fallout from Covid-19 is expected to fundamentally change the way business happens over the next five years especially because this crisis will have a lasting impact on the customer’s need and employee’s mindset. It can also bring big opportunity for certain industry verticals.

Amidst the Covid-19 turmoil, I notice that companies are deprioritizing innovation.

In majority of cases, company’s commitment to innovation has decreased as they work through the crisis, focusing solely on short -term issues; except pharma and medical device verticals which show almost 30% rise in innovation budget.

In my view, this short-term focus by companies and ‘playing it safe’ attitude may in future turn out a short-sighted decision. Companies must rethink on their innovation management strategy, because seeing the opportunities emerging from the pandemic crisis is not the same as being able to seize them.

I get this question all the time- What are the top technical and people skills we should look for while hiring a Continuous Improvement / Business Process Management Consultant or a Consulting Firm?

As the response is broad, I will take them point wise. But, before heading to the skills of the consultant, let me begin with what are the success factors for achieving Continuous Improvement? There are three success factors namely- Choice of the Continuous Improvement methodology, its strategy design and flawless execution.
 
I won’t be exaggerating if I say, “Choosing the right Continuous Improvement methodology is the lifeline of your business- be it a small firm or a large multi-national corporation”.
 
As the consulting expert or the consulting firm usually recommends the best Continuous Improvement methodology for a company, selecting a right consulting expert therefore becomes key.
 
A Continuous Improvement consultant plays dual roles. Firstly, she /he advises the Continuous Improvement methodology a company must go in for. And secondly, she / he may be become the change leader for that campaign.
 
It is up to the company to select one individual who can wear dual hats, or they can get two separate individuals. Although, in my experience of two decades in this field, I believe that it is better to get one individual on board who will play dual roles, that is, advise on the methodology to be used as well as lead to bring-on the change.
 
When the Continuous Improvement project is large, a group of consultants may be needed to handle it well. But this consultant group must be led by one individual, who is the Principal Continuous Improvement Expert.
 
Usually I witness that Continuous Improvement projects in companies are ill-coordinated. The result of which is that several projects either fail or sometimes do not lift- off the ground. Too many cooks spoil the pudding is an old adage and this is very apt for projects too.
 
Another vital point to note is that companies run Continuous Improvement projects department wise. For example, Facility maintenance  may run a Continuous Improvement campaign in their department. Another campaign may be going in Manufacturing division or, yet another campaign may be happening in Supply Chain division etc. Each of these campaigns are led by individual consultants who are assigned for the project. And these consultants report-in to the Manager or Head of the respective department. In my view, this is wrong, because costs rise while rewards generated are few.
 
Also, many a times Continuous Improvement function is clubbed with Quality Management department. This is again wrong, because quality improvement or quality management is only a small part of Continuous Improvement campaign.
 
If a company is indeed serious with its Continuous Improvement initiative, then they must create a full-fledged Continuous Improvement department. Small companies can perhaps have it as a department of one individual, while larger companies can have bigger teams.
 
This Continuous Improvement department must identify improvement projects that will bring-in maximum rewards for the company. If pains in business operations are already known, then surely, they can be picked up as Continuous Improvement projects, but this selection must be done strategically and with a flawless execution road-map. The success of the Continuous Improvement project therefore lies with its Leader.

There are several criteria of a successful Continuous Improvement Leader. But here I have mentioned nine crucial skills of a highly effective Continuous Improvement consulting expert-

1. The consulting expert must have the ability to understand client’s business and be efficient at stakeholder management.
2. The consulting expert or firm should have an integrated and overall understanding of the industry sector, its verticals, peculiarities, regulations & legislation, product types, customer avenues and marketing geographies. Most importantly for companies, it is imperative to match ‘chemistry’ with the Expert rather than looking at ‘geometry’ of the Consulting firm.
3. The consulting expert must have an up-to-date knowledge of different continuous improvement or business process management methodologies. She/ he must be hands-on with applying those methodologies successfully.
4. The consulting expert must have a passion for creating a culture of Continuous Improvement  in your organization, to bring-forth the desired positive change within prescribed time, scope and budget.
5. The consulting expert must have the ability to speak up whenever top management is wrong.
6. The consulting expert must have the ability to explain complex ideas in simple words.
7. The consulting expert must have the ability to listen and must show openness to continuous learning.
8. The consulting expert must have high emotional quotient (EQ). She/ he must be patient, persistent and persuasive while bringing on and/or managing change.
9. Amnesia- This is the most vital criteria.The Continuous Improvement expert should forget all the good work she/he did with previous organizations- What worked there may not work at your workplace, as each company has its own set of business processes, people, organizational culture, office politics and associated problems as a result thereof. The continuous improvement expert should have a mindset of always ‘starting with a clean slate’.

Want to invite Shruti to speak at your organization or evaluate Continuous Improvement prospects for your business?

Kaizen for Leaders: A Continual Improvement Tool to Increase Profit & Organizational Excellence is the eighth book of ‘Business Process Management Systems and Continuous Improvement Executive Guide Series.